The Pinterest Kitchen: How Bloggers Can Cook Up Some Interest with Pinterest

Bloggers are always looking to leverage other social media platforms in order to cook up some interest in their blog. However, there is a buffet of platforms available so the question is — what works best for bloggers? No matter what type of baker or blogger you are, Pinterest just might be the secret ingredient you’ve been looking for. Here are some Pinterest basics to get bloggers cooking.

Step #1: Preheat The Oven

Some people like to follow a recipe. If that sounds like you, create a board dedicated to your content so it’s all in one place and easy to find. This is the approach Michael Wurm Jr., prolific blogger and style spotter for Better Homes and Gardens, took with his I am inspired by charm board.

If you’re the culinary creative type, start with a set of boards that covers your variety of tastes. This way, you can seamlessly blend your content into several boards in your Pinterest kitchen. London-based Will Taylor of the wildly popular blog, Bright Bazaar, has an interiors bazaar board, that shares his blog content mixed with pins of other things he loves.

Step #2: Organize Your Ingredients

Pinterest is rapidly becoming a leading search engine for images so help people find your content quickly and easily. Think about keywords as the ingredients for your scrumptious pins. What search terms would your readers use if they were trying to find your content? Include those words in your pin description.

You can add a hashtag or two, but choose wisely and keep them simple. Don’t forget to watermark your images, too! The watermark should be subtle so it doesn’t distract from the image, though clear enough that pinners know where to go for more information. An ideal example of a Pinterest-worthy, subtle watermark is from the blog i heart nap time, shown below.

And if you’re tracking down the actual recipe to accompany that delicious looking image, there are tools to help with that as well. An example is ZipList’s Recipe Clipper function – it’s a bookmarking tool that scrapes any pin to track down the pin’s original recipe.

Step #3: Have A Secret Ingredient

We recommend pinning one photo from each blog post to encourage pinners to click through to the original source to see more images. If you pin all the images from a post, then viewers have no incentive to click-through and read your blog post.

Step #4: Don’t Serve Dishes That Are Too Big: Leave Them Wanting More

Think about how to leave pinners wanting more from your images by creating appetizing pin descriptions that will make them want to click through to your blog. You can ask a question in the caption to make them click through for your answer. You can also make it clear that if they click through to your blog where they’ll find valuable content such as a “how to” post with clear instructions.

Step #5: Family-Style: Promote Sharing

Who doesn’t love a tasty treat? Be a good friend, share your delectable desserts and make it easy for your readers to share your content, too! Embed ‘Pin It’ buttons into your blog posts like this one from Bright.Bazaaz

Whether you rely on recipes or not, following these steps should help you craft the perfect garnish for every pin. Think of Pinterest as the hors d’oeuvre for your blog! Give them a taste and they’ll want to learn more.

Kyla Brennan is the Founder & CEO of HelloSociety, a Pinterest marketing and technology firm, focused on developing a natural bridge for marketers using Pinterest. Kyla’s first foray into social media came during her tenure at MySpace where she quickly became a believer in the power of marketing through social influencers. She developed a structure around those beliefs and launched HelloSociety in April of 2012 to tap into Pinterest’s rapid rise to a leading social network. As the Founder & CEO, Kyla sets the Company’s vision and goals, leads business development strategies to achieve them and effectively manages the Company’s financial resources all while continually promoting a positive company culture. Kyla earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Advertising from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and although she’s never baked a thing, her most popular Pinterest board is “Beautimous Desserts.”

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